Is Celebrity The Ultimate Branding Strategy?

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In a prior article, I discussed niche dominance and how developing expertise can give you a competitive advantage. This article discusses ways you can maximize this strategy to dominate your market.

Once you have identified your niche and developed a level of industry knowledge that puts you ahead of the competition, you should look for ways to capitalize on all of your hard work. You do this by branding, not just your business, but also your expertise. And celebrity is the ultimate branding strategy.

1. Blog about it. A good entry point to building your celebrity brand is to start a blog where you publish your expertise and success stories for others to read and share. Regular publishing also pushes your level of understanding because you inevitably have to perform some amount of research to make your posts substantive. Seth Godin, for example, has one of the most popular blogs in the world on any topic, and he writes about marketing.

2. Write a book. If you have enough engaging business knowledge about your area of expertise, you should consider writing a book. You might be able to find a publisher, but even if you can’t, the opportunities for self-publishing are plentiful. A book is an excellent symbol of your credibility and a way for people to know you better. Being an “expert” means diddlysquat if no one knows who you are yet, but a copy of your book in a prospect’s hands changes everything.

3. Post videos. Instructional videos are becoming ubiquitous across every industry. Want to know how to do anything? Look up an instructional video on YouTube. Change a headlight on your car, repair your clothes dryer, read and understand a Profit and Loss Statement, etc. The universe of online videos is pervasive, and if you have something of value to pass along, record it, upload it, and circulate it. (If you can figure out how to get kittens or clumsy wildlife in there, all the better.)

4. Become a Radio and Television Commenter. The next steps up from Internet fame are TV, and perhaps more easily, radio appearances. When you become moderately recognized as an expert at something, people might want you to talk with you on air. Watch any 24-hour news network, or even the primetime investigative news programs, and you will see a parade of folks labeled as “experts.” Law enforcement officers, attorneys, financial advisors, dieticians, personal trainers, engineers, chemists, farmers, and on and on the list of experts continues. You can name some, I’m sure, such as Suze Orman, Jim Cramer, Bill Nye, and Marcia Clark. Anyone who has more knowledge in a particular area than the average person can be considered an “expert.” Why not you?

5. Get on a Reality TV Show. If the area in which you are an expert is interesting enough, you might even get a reality show. Dr. Phil started out as an expert on human behavior and became a media mogul with a very popular reality TV show. And we’ve also seen people with successful and interesting business models get their own shows: Rehab Addict (single mom in the Midwest buys old homes and restores them to their original glory for re-sell); Garage Gold (a company that will clean out your garage or attic for free, but they get to keep and sell anything of value they find in the process); and Flipping Vegas (couple buys homes, updates and repairs them, then resells them for a profit).

Business Case: Scott Yancey

I had an opportunity to interview Scott Yancey, star of Flipping Vegas, about increasing his notoriety by being on a reality show, and how that impacted his business. “I was already successful in real estate when I got involved with the show. When it premiered, I got tons of emails after each episode mostly divided into two categories. One group of people wanted to invest in my real estate ventures. Another group wanted my advice to help with their real estate businesses. That was great feedback, but I didn’t need any investor money and I didn't have time to mentor thousands of people. So, rather than just tell folks no, I formed a company called Yancey Events to turn that interest into a new business.”

Yancey Events provides real estate investment education as well as guidance in choosing investment properties. According to Yancey, “There are a lot of people who hate their jobs, who want to get into real estate investing so they can make their annual income in just a few deals and stop punching a clock. Yancey Events teaches them how to do that.” Yancey became a real estate brand and parlayed his celebrity into a bigger business. Since then, Yancey Events has trained more than 250,000 people how to work in real estate.

Is your business unique and interesting enough to make you a reality star? Are you an expert with something to say in prime time? If not, start smaller with a blog and a book and see where they take you. You never know.

Larry Myler: CEO By Monday, Inc., adjunct professor in the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at BYU, author of Indispensable By Monday.

Founder and CEO of By Monday, Inc., a consulting firm that accelerates B2B sales revenue through strategic alignment and innovation. I previously worked as president of VitalSmarts for 9 years. I wrote the book Indispensable By Monday, which teaches employees at all levels ...